Thursday, 25 September 2008

Just came accross this new mixtape by the one of my favourite emerging DJ/Producer's of the moment - The Gaslamp Killer....ENJOY

"THE GASLAMP KILLER “WE MAKE IT GOOD” MIX IS A ROUGH AND TOUGH RIDE THROUGH SOME OF THE MOST FILTHY TUNES ON THE PLANET!

THE GLK GOES FROM DIRTY SCRATCH BEATS TO DIRTY SOUTH RAP, TO SOME NEW NEW BEAT SHIT, TO NIRVANA! THEN STRAIGHT TO BOMBAY INDIA FOR SOME BOLLYWOOD FUN, RIGHT INTO SOME JAYLIB! AND THATS ALL WITHIN THE FIRST 10 MINUTES OF THIS MIX. NUFF SAID. PEEP IT.” - THE MOTHERFUCKING GASLAMP KILLER ( LOW END THEORY LA )" Many thanks to 'wemakeitgood.com' website.....

Wednesday, 24 September 2008

Just watched this award winning documentary about the state of music in today's climate, featuring contributions by Erykah Badu and ?uestlove, amongst others.....HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

"Narrated by Academy Award® Winner Forest Whitaker, BEFORE THE MUSIC DIES is an unsettling and inspiring look at today’s popular music industry featuring interviews and performances by Erykah Badu, Eric Clapton, Dave Matthews, Branford Marsalis, ?uestlove and a wide variety of others. The documentary film has built a passionate following as “the most important film a music fan will ever see” (XM Radio) by providing “a balanced overview of the state of the rock scene of America” (The Wall Street Journal) and adding “passion to the eternal debate about the industry” (The New York Times). Last year, BEFORE THE MUSIC DIES filmmakers Andrew Shapter and Joel Rasmussen walked away from traditional Hollywood distribution to instead pursue a large-scale grassroots release with B-Side Entertainment. Since its release in November 2006, the film has screened over 200 times in over 130 North American markets with hundreds of additional events anticipated worldwide during 2007".

Tuesday, 16 September 2008

Check out this 3-part video series from Pitchfork.TV which focus's on, what I believe to be one of the greatest Hip Hop Albums ever....... Public Enemy's..."It Takes A Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back LP"

In this three-part series, Chuck D, The Bomb Squad, and others bum-rush memory lane to give us an in-depth look at the building blocks that shaped Public Enemy's classic LP, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. This clip incorporates footage from the documentary Copyright Criminals.

Monday, 8 September 2008

Madlib's long-anticipated addition to BBE's Beat Generation series will be released on Rapster/BBE this September 30th. Fitting comfortably into a series whose previous contributors include the late J Dilla, DJ Jazzy Jeff, and Pete Rock, Madlib will deliver one of his most straight forward neck snapping hip-hop albums to date.

"WLIB AM:King of the Wigflip marks the end of an era. “As Dirty Harry said, ‘a man has to realize his limitations’” is how Barely Breaking Even (BBE) co-founder and current label head Peter Adarkwah explains the successful Beat Generation series coming to a close. “Evolution is [the] key to all survival.”

And few artists represent such evolution like Madlib The Beat Konducta. The Oxnard, California native has become what writer Amiri Baraka (nee Leroi Jones) once referred to jazz immortal John Coltrane as – “a more fixed traveler…a peace idiom, and time, placement of himself.” Madlib is a fitting piece in the Beat Generation puzzle, which has run the spectrum of top-flight producers with legends (Marley Marl, Pete Rock, Jazzy Jeff), young lions (DJ Spinna, King Britt, Will.I.Am), and the incomparable Jay Dee aka J Dilla, whose Welcome to Detroit was the first artist album to be commissioned by BBE.

But Dilla was not the first artist to be considered by the label for its inaugural Beat Generation release. That distinction would initially go to Kenny Dope of Masters At Work, then to Jazzy Jeff, yet both were hesitant at the time. “It was very different, for the first time in your life, someone giving you the opportunity to basically say who you are as a producer,” Jeff told Wax Poetics magazine in 2006. “Because a lot of us are under the hypnotism of the industry, I had no idea what to do. He [Adarkwah] gave me complete freedom, and as much as I begged for that, I got scared because it’s kind of, like, ‘What do you do when somebody gives you complete freedom?’”

FREE TRACK

Madlib The Beat Konducta: The Ox (805) - MED feat. Poke

Short answer: You become Madlib – maverick, prolific, and tirelessly uninhibited. WLIB AM: King of the Wigflip plays like the days when AM radio ruled the airwaves, transmitting a crackling, low-fi mélange of endless sample fodder, vocal snippets, and sonic intuition, turning singles into stars and flipping wigs with each twist of the dial. Starting with the ominous, tribal overtones of “The New Resident,” its spiritual spank followed by the customarily aggressive Guilty Simpson on the brassy, stabbing “Blow the Horns On ‘Em,” WLIB AM: King of the Wigflip finds Madlib venturing away from the deconstruction of world rhythms on recent projects and returning to his Western hemisphere roots in hip-hop and R&B.

And in getting back to basics, lyricism is in full effect, courtesy of Cali cohorts such as Defari on the driving, speed-limit bass funk of “Gamble On Ya Boy,” MED and Poke’s ode to home stance with the fury of “The Ox (805),” and Murs doing what Murs do in addressing the “can’t live with ’em, can’t live without ’em” state of male-female relations over the electro-pulse minimalism of “Ratrace.” Beat Konducta The Younger, Oh No, teams up with big brother Madlib as The Professionals on “I Want It Back,” while the maestro himself steps away from his helm at the beat machine and drops into the vocal booth on the audacious “Heat.”

World Famous Beat Junkie J.Rocc heralds the return of the DJ with cuts on “Blindfold Test #10 (He Don’t Play),” before the proceedings venturing eastward with Detroit’s party hearty Frank N’ Dank riding the humming, percussive “Drinks Up!” like Motor City madmen. Another Motown-born MC, former Common and Kanye West sideman, Karriem Riggins, provides a glimpse into the Madlib-Riggins Supreme Team pairing on the melancholy “Life,” while veteran Prince Po provides a standout cameo with the vibrant buoyancy of “The Thang-Thang.”

Talib Kweli, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Roc C, and the songbird styling of Frezna (“Yo-Yo Affair, parts 1 & 2) and Stacy Epps round out WLIB AM: King of the Wigflip, which is woven together by dusted interludes and instrumentals like few but The Beat Konducta can. “Madlib was not consciously meant to be last in the series,” says BBE’s Adarkwah, but when considering the producer to which he is most often associated – the late J Dilla – it is without question the proper closure. “Blacktronica should be the future,” Adarkwah declares, and he should know best, for it is Blacktronica that has already helped define his storied label’s past and present". (Published in Press Releases)

Friday, 5 September 2008

"Jazzman Records creates the finest, most comprehensive and exhaustively curated CD and LP collections of Soul, Jazz and Funk in the world. No expense is spared in tracking down artists, producers and master tapes to provide the highest quality product that can be done. If you're into funk or soul music - you need it!"

"Kicking off a new series of Jazzman Reissues, our Holy Grail series will include the rarest and most coveted soul, funk & jazz LPs ever released on CD and limited edition numbered vinyl".

"The CD booklets will contain pictures, interviews and information on the making and history of the record, while the LPs will be exact copies of the original, with a unique number denoting the limited issue on the back".

Background

" And that's what Uncle Funkenstein is all about. Never before on eBay and impossible to find, this is an ultra-rare LP that funk collectors talk about but never see. One of the ultimate private press funk/jazz LPs, with just a handful of known copies. The original album bears all the hallmarks of the local, private press album - black and white budget cover, home-made "conceived on a kitchen table" sleeve design, self-produced and on a shoe-string budget. Some of these kind of records are over hyped and have all kinds of amazing things said about them - only for the MUSIC itself to disappoint. Not so with Uncle Funkenstein - you'll know that from the moment you hit Track 1 and the awesome bass blows you away…"" 12 page colour cd booklet with in-depth liner notes interviews and previously unpublished photographs" " Never before reissued - previously only available as a privately pressed and highly collectable LP valued at well over $1000". (JAZZMAN RECORDS)

MARY LOU WILLIAMS - Credo/It Ain't Necessarily So 7" (JM068)

"Since 1998 Jazzman Records has led the way in reissuing the rarest and best soul, jazz & funk 45s".

7" singles offer no hiding place for lame, goofy or weak music. The music is naked and one side of a disc for all to hear. Just 3 minutes of sound. No extended edit, no remixes, no acapella, no versions - just the song on its own as it was always meant to be heard".

"Always on premium vinyl, and always with warm, rich, analogue sound! " With the belief that jazz was the only true art form and Catholicism the only true faith, pianist, composer, arranger, author and philanthropist Mary Lou Williams headed to the studio in 1964 to record her album Black Christ of the Andes. Ten years previously she had turned her back on the 'devil's music', and this was her first recording session in all that time. During those years she had been involved in the church, and spent much of her time and money personally helping drug-addicted jazz musicians back to health. But with the civil rights movement in full swing and the growing conflict in Vietnam, she felt an even greater calling for her talents, and the recording studio beckoned".

Background

"The album included a much slowed-down version of the Gershwin classic It Ain't Necessarily So. Built upon a melancholy bass figure in 6/8 time, there is a clarity and purity about the arrangement, with single notes from her right hand picking the melody out of the blues, with the left hand adding subtle chords. As captioned on a Williams pic in Life magazine - 'Cool as the smoke off dry ice'. Spiritual jazz indeed! In 1971 the instrumental version of Credo was recorded, having been recorded with a vocal accompaniment the previous year. During this period in her life Williams was primarily engaged in the writing and recording jazz for performance in church, and most notably for singing at Mass. In Credo we can hear influence from the street, as the funk rhythms of the day were omnipresent, permeating even the church and its hallowed walls". (JAZZMAN RECORDS)

The 7” label dedicated to the sounds of soul gets an official re-release of the rare and hugely in-demand modern soul gem ‘I’ve Got It’ by Tolbert. They’ve mastered this one good n loud from the original tapes for DJ use!

Lauded by soul collectors all over the world as a true gem that could single handedly define the term ‘modern soul’, Tolbert’s ‘I Got It’ is a mid-tempo clubber from ’82 that has recently approached anthemic status. The ultra-rare status of the original 45 means only a select few DJs such as Ian Wright and Soul Sam have been able to give it plays, as the $4000 price tag has been a stumbling block for many soul fans".

Background

"It’s taken them three years to organise the release of ‘I’ve Got It’, including a special trip to NYC to meet songwriter Bill Mersey and collect the precious master tapes in person" (JAZZMAN RECORDS)

ROOTS MANUVA - Again & Again 7" (BDS 122)

"A dinky little slab of summer soundsystem niceness from roots Manuva with the radio and Matt Helder of Arctic Monkeys versions of lead single 'Again and again' from his new album. The radio version benefits from a little beefing up from Shy FX, making for a solid and uplifting dancehall ditty, while Matt Helder has a crack at a GarageBand version, adding a heavy guitar chops and shuffling the beats into a dubstep compatible effort". (BOOMKAT RECORDS)

1. Again & Again (Radio Edit)2. Again & Again (Arctic Monkeys Remix)

ROOTS MANUVA - Again & Again 12"(Moody Boyz Remix)(BD 122)

"Bouncing soca-basment versions of 'Again and again' from The Moody Boyz, with a vocal version refitting Manuva' vox over a kinetic riddim developing into hi-end staggered delays and sinister synthlines for a killer and effective DJ tool, while the B-side dubs Manuva's voice into a croaked mutterance and swings the delays and FX into wild styles for an even more effective floor version". (BOOMKAT RECORDS)

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